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Pahlka named deputy federal CTO

Jennifer Pahlka, shown here in 2010, will run the Presidential Innovation Fellows program in her new role as deputy federal CTO. (Flickr/Wikimedia Commons photo by Kevin Shockey)

Jennifer Pahlka, the founder of Code for America, will take up the role of deputy federal chief technology officer and run the Presidential Innovation Fellows program.

Code for America is a non-profit that gives year-long fellowships to developers, technologists and others who want to work on applying a high-tech, streamlined approach to government services. In a May 30 blog post, Pahlka said she's thinking of the appointment as a fellowship of her own, taking the post at the Office of Science and Technology Policy for a year, before returning to run Code for America.

She'll report to federal chief technology officer Todd Park in her new job. "Todd has proven without a doubt that the federal government can operate on lean startup principles and timeframes, that data creates value, and that there is a network of amazing people already changing the culture of government," she wrote in her blog post.

Before founding Code For America, Pahlka worked at CMP Media, and ran the Web 2.0 and Gov 2.0 events for TechWeb.

A spokesperson for OSTP confirmed the news in an e-mail, saying, "Jen will be working with CTO Todd Park to move the Administration's tech innovation agenda forward, including working with the Presidential Innovation Fellows, and we are excited about her pending arrival!"